I could always rely on Heaslip to show his quality

MANY tributes have been paid to Jamie Heaslip since he announced his retirement on Monday, but none were as detailed as the one Joe Schmidt delivered yesterday.

The head coach is known for his forensic analysis of the game and went through the former No.8’s strengths one by one in a fascinating insight into the level of detail he goes into in assessing players.

Schmidt had expected to have Heaslip on board until the 2019 World Cup. He signed a two-year deal just over a year ago, but was struck down by a back problem in the warm-up for the final Six Nations game against England and never played again.

“Inevitably there are some real pressure points in games and Jamie doesn’t really do pressure points, he does opportunities. His outlook on how to solve problems was that, ‘This is great, let’s get a solution here’,” Schmidt said when asked what Ireland have lost with his retirement.

“His calm on the pitch when you have got young players is important and I think we have Pete (O’Mahony) and CJ (Stander) starting to extend that to the likes of the Jack Conans, the Dan Leavys.

“Josh van der Flier has it all on his own, he is a young man, is calm and loves any opportunity, any challenge on the pitch. But Jamie, he sees all those things as challenges, he also sees the game well.

“I know he got World (Rugby) Try of the Year, and if you look at that from the rear angle he is almost last up out of a ruck on our 22m, the ball goes to the edge, there is some inter-play between Simon Zebo and Jared Payne, Fergus McFadden gets involved, and then he is tracking right up the pitch.

“He does see the game very well and he had that engine that allowed him not just to see it, but put himself in a position to contribute and that was crucial.

“He was incredibly good at the rolling maul. If he had a corner, he was so tough to shift.

“He was really good at leading the scrum. I know leading the scrum when you are at the back of it doesn’t quite make sense.

“For us, it is still a really important position.

“There were just those aspects of his game. He would jump for us at the front of the lineout quite often and was skilful there, very reliable, handling wise.

“Jamie would see the game and predict what would happen next, so that he could get in a position to contribute either side of